Question

What is your greatest concern regarding the ocean? Please be specific.

Answer 1

I would have to say my greatest concern would be the pace of how fast the coral is bleaching out. We are eliminating keystone predators and because of this, the reefs are suffering.

Comments

Hmmm. You think the predators are causing the reef issues? I think it is ocean acidification that is causing the reef damage.

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I think the lack of keystone species is causing problems on the reefs, and I agree I also think that acidification is causing damage as well, there are so many problems that are causing the breakdown of the reefs and hopefully we all can find a solution soon to save some of it.

Answer 2

We are changing the ocean environment in many ways.  Run off from pesticides and sewage is one problem, ships dumping their garbage at sea. Loss of apex predators due shark fining.  The proliferation of non-native species like lion fish.  Sea level rise could cause a lot of unexpected debris from houses and septic tanks near the ocean to whole cities flooded. More accidents and spills like the Deep Water horizon.  The list is terrifying.

Comments

Thanks for your thoughtful answer.

Answer 3

Plastics in the ocean is a major concern as it seems to affect all levels of the food chain. This ultimately affects us as consumers of fish or other seafood. A "new" area of concern seems to be the radiation from the Fukushima accident that has now made its way across the Pacific. What range of impacts will this have on the entire Pacific?

Comments

Great points and one planet once ocean so what's in Pacific goes beyond.

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Exactly!! I wish we could get people to see this...

Answer 4

Plastic!  We are starting to realize it.  Straws and plastic bags are being banned in certain areas.  Microbeads are on their way out.  Plastic doesn't break down.  It just breaks.  It gets digested by marine life and can easily end up being digested by us.

Answer 5

Overfishing. Many species of fish will not reach the sizes that they have been known to reach in years past which then puts a stress on the smaller fish to try and reproduce or can't reproduce at all because they are not mature yet.  Some species have slot sizes to allow them to grow but not every one does. Overfishing then causes top down effects that influence the rest of the ecosystem. Taking out one species will affect the populations of many other different species including coral, and plankton (oxygen). Overall, it puts a lot of stress on the ocean.

Answer 6

The rapid loss of huge chunks of our coral reefs..reef dies, and every thing in the ocean follows